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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902296">Mixing business with girls and thrills</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddish_umbrella/pseuds/reddish_umbrella'>reddish_umbrella</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Comedy with a Twist, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, romcom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:47:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902296</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddish_umbrella/pseuds/reddish_umbrella</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoey just wanted to spend the weekend with her friends Mary and Sue in L.A. as suddenly she get dragged into a story of spies and world conspiracies.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Zoey Clarke &amp; Max Richman, Zoey Clarke/Max Richman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you very much my most beloved betas AubreyRichman and Erin!<br/>Without you ... I wouldn't say I would be lost, but this fic would be bugged with many mistakes (more.) </p><p>And of course all the love to the one and only Max and Zoey server out there.<br/>It's a pleasure and honour to be a part of this wonderful community. Merci! </p><p>:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::</p><p>Hi fellow ZEPians out there! I normally don't do fanfics - I think the last one I wrote was back as teenager, which is loooooooong ago - but these two love birds let me reconsider it. Hopefully you can enjoy them as I do. I will post the first two chapter at once, so you get a better impression what's lies ahead. (and the second chapter is shorter than usual...so.) Always looking forward to some reviews, so if you like, please don't hesitate!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::</p><p>Zoey didn’t really know how she ended up here.<br/>
She just wanted to have a nice weekend with her friends from college. They suggested meeting up in L.A. for a nice hangout on their old campus at UCLA. She thought that maybe they’d have some beers, talk about the latest changes in the tech industry, vent about the misogyny of the tech branch … but instead, she was HERE.<br/>
“Here” was currently on Hollywood Blvd, in front of a coffee shop cramped with screaming, crying, and hysterical teenagers, and Zoey's more mature friends. Not that they behaved much differently.<br/>
<br/>
“OH MY GOD! I THINK HE’S REALLY COMING OUT THERE!” screamed her friend Mary.“HE’S ABSOLUTELY IN THERE I JUST CAN FEEL IT!” screamed Sue back.<br/>
<br/>
Zoey rolled her eyes. “Mary…Sue…could you please calm down? I don’t really understand what the fuss is about.”<br/>
<br/>
“Skylar is here,” said Mary with glaring eyes.</p><p> “Who?”</p><p> “Astin,” added Sue, with the same glaring and hypnotized look.</p><p> “And who is that again?”</p><p> “Oh my god, ZOEY! How can you not know that? He’s in the best show currently on TV!” cried Mary.</p><p> “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj?”</p><p> “No, not the freaky sneakerhead! A fictional series!”</p><p> “Oh, you mean THAT one!”, said Zoey with sudden joy in her eyes.</p><p> “Yeeeees!” said Mary and Sue in unison.</p><p> “The remake of IT Crowd with Kapil Talkawar and Michael Thomas Grant!”</p><p> “What? NOOO!” they screamed furiously in unison.</p><p> “It’s about ScrewPoint!” Mary tried to explain.</p><p> “What?” Zoey was confused.</p><p> “They sing to each other?” helped Sue.</p><p> “About screwing each other?”</p><p> “What?” asked Mary and Sue dumbfounded.</p><p> “I think this conversation is turning around in circles.” Zoey shook her head.</p><p> Mary opened her mouth to retort when suddenly the noise in front of them got louder. Before Zoey could do anything to protect her precious ears (she needed them to listen to true-crime podcasts!) the hive of frantic girls and her best friends started to chant. </p><p>
  <strong>“SKYLAR! SKYLAR! SKYLAR! SKYLAR!”</strong>
</p><p> Zoey tried to get on her toes to see anything at all – which was a challenge with her petite figure – and she could just make out that a man was coming out of the café. She squinted her eyes to get a better look. She saw a middle-aged man with some wild brown curls, a baggy sweater, and quite the hipster-esque beard. She turned around to her friends. “He just looks pretty average if you ask me.” </p><p>Mary and Sue glared at her with a deadly look. “What?” Zoey mouthed to them.</p><p>Suddenly the infamous but average-looking Skylar Astin began to speak to the frenzied crowd. </p><p>“Welcome fans,” he said, opening his arms. He was greeted with hysterical screaming.</p><p>“We gather today, here in front of this small café, the Golden Grind, to celebrate an amazing and incredible event,” making a pause far too dramatic for Zoey's taste. She was pretty sure  the girls in the first row were already fainting in anticipation. </p><p>Skylar continued. “To celebrate, my beloved fans, THE SECOND SEASON OF SCREWPOINT!, he clamored. Behind him, along the back walls of the coffee shop banners unfurled, picturing Sklyar Astin with other actors and the title “ScrewPoint – Season 2: Now We Screw Harder.”</p><p>Zoey frowned and turned her around to her friends. “Is there an “us” missing?” </p><p>But her friends didn’t answer as they tried to squeeze through the crowd to the front row. </p><p>“What? You can’t leave me here! Shit!” </p><p>She followed them through the crowd of crying and drooling teenagers who had already started to throw their underpants in Skylar Astin’s direction. </p><p>“That’s so gross!” murmured Zoey to herself as she tried to catch up to her friends. “What was wrong with a couple of beers and tech talk? Here I am trying to cross a fanatic crowd of love-drunk teenagers.” </p><p>She sighed to herself as she tried to get past a bunch of girls waving pink-hearted panties.  Finally, she made it near the first row and she finally got to see Skylar Astin up close.</p><p>“Okay, maybe a bit more above average”, she said out loud. The girls beside her gave her a flabbergasted look. </p><p>“What?!” said Zoey aggressively, at this point pretty annoyed by the fans of this show. But before she could get an answer, a loud bang was heard. Confused, she looked around until she realized – like the rest of the crowd – that something had just crashed through the columns of the patio roof of the coffee shop. A piece of the wooden framing was missing and it looked like the patio roof wouldn’t hold much longer. This was unfortunate because Sklyar Astin was standing directly underneath it.</p><p>In seconds mayhem ensued. Fans were frantically pushing away from the coffee shop to save themselves as Zoey pushed forward to get to Skylar, which was still standing under an eventual death trap. She somehow managed to get through, but before she actually could process what was happening, she was standing in front of Skylar Astin, mere inches away. He looked confused and maybe even a bit more above-average. In the right situation Zoey would have called him “amiable,” but now was not the time for that.</p><p><br/>
“We have to fix this!” she screamed through the noise.</p><p><br/>
Sklyar was looking at her in confusion until she pointed above their heads.<br/>
His high-pitched squeak rung in Zoey's ears. “Jesus!”</p><p>Zoey looked frantically around for something to stabilize the failing frame. Suddenly, she saw gaffer tape laying innocently on one of the tables behind Sklyar. She turned  to Sklyar to tell him to hand her the tape.</p><p><br/>
“I know exactly why this is happening!” he yelled through the turmoil.</p><p><br/>
“What…?”</p><p><br/>
 “It’s because I am a secret spy!”, he continued wide-eyed.<br/>
 What the hell?, thought Zoey to herself. But that wasn’t the urgent matter here.</p><p><br/>
 “Give me the gaffer tape!” she yelled to Sklyar, pointing behind his back.</p><p><br/>
 “The what?”, he yelled back.</p><p><br/>
 “A heavy cotton cloth pressure-sensitive tape with strong adhesive properties; widely used in theatre”, explained Zoey, still yelling through the turmoil.</p><p><br/>
 Sklylar gave her a strange look. “That sounds like something out of a dictionary.”</p><p><br/>
 “JUST GIVE ME THE GODDAMN BLACK TAPE BEHIND YOU!” she screamed. </p><p>The first pieces of brick were falling off the patio roof. Sklyar handed her the tape and Zoey went to work attaching it  to the column. At this point, she was asking herself if it would be easier to just run away and bring herself and Sklyar to a secure location, away from the patio roof. Maybe she should just let the insurance pay the damage to the property instead of risking her own life to fix this ugly piece of architecture.  “Well...time to play superhero anyway.”</p><p>She bit a piece of the tape from the roll and started to roll it around the column in order to get it stabilized. Meanwhile, Sklyar Astin was still standing beside her and babbling what seemed like nonsense to her.</p><p><br/>
 “…I think I was the target but they seemed to have missed me!”</p><p><br/>
Zoey concentrated on her task on the hand and listened only with one ear.</p><p> “…cause you know I am not really Skylar Astin.”<br/>
 Zoey looked up, confused. “What?”<br/>
 “Sklylar Astin is just a persona for my coverage. My real name is Max Richman and I’m actually a spy.”<br/>
 Zoey shook her head in disbelief and she continued to stabilize the column. After she used an absurd amount of gaffer tape the patio roof seemed to be  stable enough to not fall and bury someone under it. She looked at her work and was satisfied. She just saved the world with gaffer tape. At least she saved some strange guy named Sklyar…or wait what was it again?<br/>
 “When you are a secret spy named Max Richman, why did you just tell me that? Don’t you have to kill me now?” She looked at Max who was looking utterly shocked.<br/>
 “FUCK!”, he swore loudly. “Now we have to wipe your memories!”<br/>
 “What?” gasped Zoey internally annoyed how often she had to say “what” in this short sequence.</p><p> But before she could say or do anything else, Max got her left hand and dragged her away from the coffee shop.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zoey meets the team.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As always...a lovely thank you to my betas Professor Emma and Aubrey Richman. <br/>And of course the most insane place in the world...our beloved discord server with all these wonderful individual there. (I will continue to praise you!)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What’s going on?”, asked Zoey repeatedly and she tried to get out of Max firm grip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have to bring you to a safe location”, he looked around paranoid, “and then eventually we have to … roofie you?” He looked unsure at her shocked face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You want to do what?!”, Zoey cried in shock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shhh! Not so loud! I didn’t mean it that way!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh please, enlighten me! How should I interpret the phrase “I have to roofie you” in another way than the obvious one?!” Zoey was furious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean...so you forget what I just told you”, he tried to explain lamely. “Or maybe we can do that red blinky thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked at him in disbelief. “You want to use a neuralyzer on me? You work for MIB?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max rolled his eyes. “No, that’s silly. There are no aliens.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I'm consider myself a scientist, but I’m just abducted by a Hollywood beau, who claims that he’s a secret agent, so I am open to this kind of silliness.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t say anything - thank god - and started to drag her in the parking garage. “That’s the entrance to the safe house”, he told her after he saw her suspicious face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well….parking garage sounds very safe for me...as a woman...with a man who threatened to roofie me...great!”, mumbled Zoey to herself. Max came to a sudden halt in front of an elevator with no buttons. “So what, super-secret agent?”, asked Zoey impatiently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m looking for something to unlock it”, explained Max.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure thing”, laughed Zoey, “don’t tell me: you have to scan your iris to get access. Like in one of this ridiculous superhero series like...what was it called...yeah I remember..Titans.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this moment he said “Ah!” and opened a little box with a scanner in it. The scanner started immediately to scan his left eyes. “Access granted”, said the monotonic voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max turned around to her a triumphant grin on his face. “Bruce is actually a very nice guy. And now get into the elevator.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey looked at him, stunned. “Batman...is….for real? But….but...there is no Gotham…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Get in. Now please.” Max looked slightly annoyed at her. Zoey went into the elevator, which shut with a silent shift and went straight up. The ride wasn’t long before the elevator stopped and opened with a soft ding. Before the both got out a lanky and tall man was standing in front of them. He looked pissed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“WHAT THE FUCK MAX?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi, Leif. That’s our chief of the intel department. He’s the right hand of Joan.” Max explained to Zoey as he tried to sidestep the very furious looking Leif.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“YOU JUST BROUGHT AN CIVILIAN TO OUR SAFE HOUSE!”, he yelled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well…..I had to...she was in danger…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In what danger? As far I saw it on the security footage you’ve been attacked, not her!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I…” Max opened his mouth to answer something but shut it again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He told me he was a secret spy and he wants to wipe my memory”, explained Zoey to Leif.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Leif glared at him. “Again, Max? Again?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You do that more often? That’s bad. I mean it defeats the whole “secret” thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max looked at her, exhausted. “It was something totally different situation the last time…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, another civilian in our safe house. I think that warrants a serious chat, Max”, said a female voice behind their backs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max sighed. “Hi Joan”, he said without turning around. “Please let me explain….”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My office, now. All of you!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Seconds later they were standing in front of Joan in a weird kinda glasshouse construction. Zoey didn’t imagine that a secret agency would have the interior of a cliché tech start-up, but sure. Nothing really could shock her at this point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, please explain.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I had a slip of the tongue, okay?”, said Max in defense.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“ You call that a slip of the tongue?  You blew your cover to a civilian! What’s her name anyway?” Joan seemed to look at Zoey the first time intently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know actually…”, he looked at Zoey questionably.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do I have to answer to this….?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif sighed annoyed. “We just can just search for her in the database.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...which database? And that doesn’t seem legal...I mean…is that whole thing authorized by the US government anyway?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if she pushed a soft spot for them the three of them started to groan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The US governemnt and our agency aren’t the best friends”, said Indian man who just entered the office. He had a nice smile and seemed to wear an even baggier sweater than Max. “Hi, my name is Tobin. Nice to meet you...Zoey Clarke.” He gave her his hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi...what? No!”, she said as she realized that he uncovered her identity. “How?”, she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Resident hacker of the team”, Tobin said almost looked apologetically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, what are we going to do with her?”, asked Leif impatiently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t we just wipe her memory or something?”, suggested Max.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“With what Max?”, asked Tobin, massaging his temples.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He suggests using a neuralyzer on me. Or roofie me.” Zoey snitched Max.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin, Leif, and Joan let us a loud groan meanwhile Max asked “What’s wrong with that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t have time for this kind of shit”, said Joan and jolted upwards. “I have to meet up with Simon from the intel field crew. We need to find the perpetrator for the incident today.” She looked at Zoey and said, “Throw her in a cell or something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zoey gasped but couldn't reply, as Leif cleared his throat. “We don’t have holding cells at this facility, Joan.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not?”, asked Joan displeased.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well...safe houses are not meant to keep potential prisoner safe….”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“OKAY!”, said Joan exasperated. “Then Max has to babysit her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“WHAT?”, said Zoey and Max unison. “Him?!” “Her?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You get her into her, so you should able to keep her in here. That shouldn’t be an issue for a trained agent like you are.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Trained agent...you sure?”, mumbled Zoey and Max shoot her a livid look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I should be back…” Joan watched on the smartwatch, “about in 6 hours. Until we have hopefully a solution to this problem.” She took her briefcase and walked out with Leif.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Max and Zoey stayed back in her office and looked at each other like rivaling animals in a cage. This is going to be long six hours, thought Zoey to herself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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